How
do you connect with a person who doesn't work, doesn't go to school,
doesn't use the services of organizations, and doesn't have custody of
his or her child on welfare? Bridgeport is answering this question
with the help of a Welfare-to-Work program operated under a
competitive federal grant by The WorkPlace, Inc., Southwestern
Connecticut's Regional Workforce Development Board. Because Workplace
officials believe that the employment of individuals fitting this
description - known as "non-custodial parents" - is part of
the missing bridge to family unity and self sufficiency, their
Welfare-to-Work effort includes services customized for them.

Like
most other urban areas across the nation, Bridgeport has its share of
non-custodial parents - most of them male, most of them in need of a
job. With fear, distrust, a desire to avoid "the system,"
and lack of targeted and coordinated outreach often keeping them away
from formal service systems, non-custodial parents find ways to stay
in touch with their families and participate in a system of support
that blends welfare benefits and other non-formal income. Though their
families may grow and their relationships may change, the habit of
avoiding governmental systems is hard for non-custodial parents to
break.

In
collaboration with the City, The WorkPlace's Welfare-to-Work program
is currently providing pre-employment training, on-the-job training,
job search assistance, job placement and retention support,
transportation support, repaired car purchase options, lifelong
learning incentives, and post-employment training for 154 individuals;
among the 81 Bridgeport residents in this group are 16 non-custodial
parents who are present despite the obstacles standing in the way of
their participation, and despite some serious personal concerns.

In
addition to an overwhelming fear of "the system" in
general, many believe that their earnings from jobs would be taken
away by programs which provide child support benefits to their
children. If you believe that your earnings will be taken away,
why enter training and a job? The answer: Despite the fact that in
some instances earnings may be tapped for child support, training
and a job represent assets having long-term value.

Without
formal connections with social service and government agencies,
non-custodial parents achieve the goal of being "unseen by
the system." It follows that, if non-custodial parents have
developed the habit of avoiding the system, it is up to the system
to find and recruit them.

Nationally,
stringent Welfare-to-Work eligibility criteria for non-custodial
parents have made enrollment difficult for them. To be eligible,
they must be contending with two of three barriers: 1) no GED or
high school diploma and low reading and math skills; 2) the need
for substance abuse treatment; and 3) a poor work history. If a
non-custodial parent has a high school diploma and does not need
treatment or will not disclose a substance abuse problem,
enrollment is not possible - despite their need for assistance.
Also, either the child or custodial parent must receive welfare.
For those non-custodial parents who are not connected to either
the custodial parent or the child, determining eligibility for
this final criteria is difficult because confidentiality
restrictions prevent the release of non-custodial status
information.

The
lack of system readiness poses an obstacle. After years of
invisibility, non-custodial parents are not the kinds of clients
workforce development programs are accustomed to serving. As a
developing system, Welfare-to-Work is encountering difficulties
throughout the nation in recruiting and engaging non-custodial
parents whose tendency to avoid the system and whose
misperceptions concerning the loss of personal and financial
control keep them hidden.

Responding
to these obstacles, The WorkPlace has developed strategies which focus
on contacting, enrolling and providing service to non-custodial
parents. The WorkPlace:

Partners
with the City to take advantage of its experience in serving
single adults, some of whom may be eligible non-custodial parents.

Coordinates
recruitment through entities which are in contact with potential
program eligibles. Included are the Office of Child Support and
Enforcement, day incarceration programs, adult probation, family
court, churches, and other Welfare-to-Work programs in which
custodial parents (in most cases, women) may learn about The
WorkPlace programs and share the information with non-custodial
parents.

Makes
the programs appealing to the non-custodial parents by combining
traditional classroom training with on-the job training in
industries such as upholstery repair, concrete restoration and
resurfacing, and sheet metal work.

Secures
commitments from employers who are willing to hire non-custodial
parents and includes this information in recruiting.

The
WorkPlace's Welfare-to-Work program began in July 1998 with the award
of a three-year, $5,000,000 competitive grant to serve a total of 550
people in the Southwestern Connecticut region. While there are 20
communities in this region, the City of Bridgeport is home to 70
percent of the people in need of the program's services - primarily
long-term welfare recipients whose profile of limited education, low
skill levels, little or no work experience, and need for substance
abuse treatment makes them the hardest to employ.

Since
the start of the program, 73 participants - most of them Bridgeport
residents - have been placed in jobs. Of these, 39 have met the 60-day
retention target and five have met the six- month target.

Additional
information on The WorkPlace's efforts in Bridgeport is available from
Barbara Stracka at (203) 576-7030, ext. 308, or at stracka@workplace.org